Dongchang, whose full name is Dongzhi Factory, referred to as Dongchang, was established by Zhu Di of the Ming Dynasty in the eighteenth year of Yongle, and is a typical privileged supervision agency, performing the errands of spies and secret police.

Zhu Di illegally overthrew the regime of Emperor Jianwen by force in the Battle of Jingyan, ascended the throne in Nanjing, changed the Yuan Yongle, and was the Emperor Yongle of the Ming Dynasty.

On the one hand, rumors that Emperor Jianwen was not dead appeared from time to time, on the other hand, many ministers in the court were not very supportive of the new regime, and Zhu Di also distrusted the ministers of the court.

Zhu Di felt that the Jinyi Guard located outside the palace was not very convenient to use, so he decided to establish a new organization. In the process of Zhu Di's army, some eunuchs and monks have made great efforts (such as the famous Zheng He and Daoyan), so in Zhu Di's mind, he still feels that eunuchs are more reliable, and they are in the palace, and it is more convenient to connect, so Zhu Di reversed Taizu Zhu Yuanzhang's ban on eunuchs not to interfere in political affairs, and reused eunuchs.

In December of the eighteenth year of Yongle, Zhu Di, the ancestor of the Ming Dynasty, in order to suppress the political opposition, decided to set up a new official office called "Dongchang Factory", referred to as "Dongchang", and ordered the favored eunuch to serve as the leader.

This is the origin of the East Factory.

However, the deeper background of Zhu Di's establishment of the East Factory was to strengthen the centralization of power, at first, the East Factory was directly under the command of Zhu Di, and later the control was transferred to the hands of the eunuchs, whose power was above the Jinyi Guard.

In the first month of the spring of the thirteenth year of Chenghua, Ming Xianzong added the West Factory, and used the eunuch Wang Zhi as the commander, whose power exceeded that of the East Factory, and the scope of activities spread all over the country from Beijing. Later, because of the "admonition and obstruction" of the cabinet scholars, "the West Factory was re-established" during the time of Wu Zong, forming a situation of "confrontation between the East and West Factories". What's more, a few days later, a "specialist factory" was set up, and the eunuch Liu Jin bowed to lead it, and the east and west factories were all under supervision, and the world was in an uproar.

In the Tianqi Dynasty, all kinds of contradictions became increasingly intensified, and the imperial power faced a serious crisis.

Wei Zhongxian selected the eunuchs of martial arts in the palace to form an armed team of 10,000 people as wings, and accepted the officials mainly from the Luoqi, Chu and Zhejiang parties as righteous pawns, known as the eunuchs. Wenchen has five tigers such as Cui Chengxiu, military generals such as Tian Ergeng and other five biao, as well as ten children, forty grandchildren, etc., from the cabinet, six ministries to the governor of the four directions, governors, put the dead party. At the same time, Wei Zhongxian also holds military power, and can appoint and dismiss governors and ministers at will, in addition, Wei Zhongxian also holds economic power, sending his cronies to the eunuch governor Jingshi and Tongzhou warehouse, admiring Cao Canal Road, and sending tax supervisors to search for people's wealth. To sum it up in one sentence, it is that the internal and external power belongs to Wei Zhongxian.

Wei Zhongxian went out to fight, like the emperor, everywhere he passed, the scholars and doctors knelt on the side of the road and shouted nine thousand years old, the eunuchs and shameless officials also competed to build a shrine for him in various places, a shrine cost tens of thousands or even hundreds of thousands of taels of silver, after the ancestral hall was completed, the local officials wanted to enjoy the spring and autumn sacrifices, and the officials and the people who did not worship the ancestral hall were killed, and the factory guards were unprecedentedly arrogant.

After Zhu Youzhen ascended the throne, although Wei Zhongxian was arrested and the eunuchs were expelled, the Donglin Party rose up and opposed Zhu Youzhen everywhere, and Zhu Youzhen had to reuse eunuchs to balance the Donglin Party, so Dongchang began to hold a lot of power again.

The leader of the East Factory is called the East Factory Palm Seal Eunuch, also known as the Factory Gong or the Governor, is the second person in the eunuch after the Celebrant Palm Seal Eunuch, and the subordinate officials of the East Factory have a member of the Prison Seal Eunuch and the Punishment Hundred Households, and they are served by the Jinyi Wei Thousand Households and Hundred Households, and they are called the Paste Prison Officer.

In addition, the East Factory has more than 40 people in charge, foreman, and secretary, which are allocated by the brocade guard, divided into 12 sub-ugly Yin Mao, and the steward wears a round hat, soap boots, and a brown shirt, and the rest of the people have the same boots and hats, but wear a straight body.

The commander is equivalent to the squad leader, also called the stall head, with a total of more than 100 people, and there are also 12 ugly people, all wearing pointed hats, white leather boots, brown clothes, and small tapestry. There are several commanders of each commander, and the officers are also called fanzi and officers, and these people are also composed of capable elements selected from the brocade guards.

Therefore, Dongchang and Jinyiwei are linked, but the power is above Jinyiwei.

On the first day of each month, the East Factory will concentrate on the investigation work of the month, and the factory service will draw lots in the East Factory to decide the site for which they are responsible.

Among the eunuchs, the highest position is the eunuch with the palm seal, the eunuch with the palm seal at this time is called Gao Shiming, this Lao Gao is also a big eunuch who is loyal to Zhu Youzhen, in name, Wang Chengen is not the biggest eunuch, but because of the past experience of Lao Wang and Zhu Youzhen, in fact, Wang Chengen basically performed the errand of the chief eunuch, and Lao Gao did not compete with Wang Chengen for power.

Wang Jinlong proposed to be the head of the East Factory has long been thought about, he suddenly came to the court with a small show, if there is no power, who will take him seriously, but this East Factory has always been controlled by eunuchs, if he wants to arrest the East Factory in his own hands, he has to say something, so he put forward a plan to reorganize the East Factory into an intelligence bureau.

As soon as Zhu Youzhen heard that what Wang Jinlong said made sense, and the effect was still so great, he naturally agreed to Wang Jinlong without thinking about it, and he expected Wang Jinlong to help him defeat Li Zicheng, resist Jianzhu, and realize the Ming Zhongxing he dreamed of.

Wang Chengen was naturally reluctant in his heart, but the emperor agreed, so he didn't dare to fight.

In addition, he also thanked Wang Jinlong, without Wang Jinlong, he would also follow Zhu Youzhen to the national disaster, besides, this Wang Jinlong has been praising him for his loyalty to the emperor from beginning to end, and his bastard apprentices did such a rebellious thing, almost ruining the emperor's country, and Wang Jinlong didn't say a bad word about himself, so Wang Chengen didn't want to say bad things about Wang Jinlong.

But Wang Chengen strongly disagrees with Wang Jinlong's evaluation of the East Factory, what is notorious? Aren't you framing people? But Dongchang has existed for more than 200 years, and how long has he been managed by Wang Chengen, and Wang Jinlong has not said by name that he Wang Chengen has done something wrong, so Wang Chengen is full of opinions and can't say it.

Wang Jinlong was really happy, just flickered for a while, and easily got the head of Dongchang, this Chongzhen Emperor Zhu Youzhen was really interesting, and he also made him a second-class official.

However, Wang Jinlong knows that he has to pretend to be an official, the emperor gave you an official, and you didn't even excuse yourself, what do you make the emperor think?

"Your Majesty, the minister just wants to do things for the emperor, you said that the minister is a twenty-year-old Xiaoxiu who suddenly became a second-grade member, and the hundred officials said that the minister is fortunate to enter, and it is not good if the emperor is nepotistic, so the minister asks the emperor to follow the errand of the Zhongshu Sheren to entitle a seven-grade official, you can rest assured, the minister of the Intelligence Bureau guarantees to manage just now."

How could Zhu Youzhen agree, "I still expect Aiqing to do big things for me, how can I do things if my level is too low?" Don't shirk! ”

Wang Jinlong secretly rejoiced, "Which minister will thank the emperor, and the minister will knock on the lord Longen!" ”

As he spoke, Wang Jinlong knelt down and kowtowed.

"Get up! Get up! Zhu Youzhen was very happy, and stretched out his hand to pull Wang Jinlong up.

Wang Chengen was stunned again, and the emperor actually helped Wang Jinlong up.

Wang Jinlong made another request, "Your Majesty, the minister still has a lot of brothers on the mountain, can the minister recruit them to help the minister do things together, those people are quite easy to use." ”

Zhu Youzhen asked: "How many people?" ”

Wang Jinlong replied, "More than six hundred." ”

Zhu Youzhen was stunned, "So much? Why haven't I heard from the officials in Shanxi? ”

It is not a trivial matter that six hundred bandits have gathered on the hill of a small place.

Zhu Youzhen then wanted to ask if there were any of you who had mixed up with Li Zicheng, this was what he was most concerned about. But when I think about it, these people still went to beat Li Zicheng to save Zhou Yuji, how could they get into Li Zicheng's people.

"Your Majesty, there weren't many people before, only forty or fifty, and the rest have been developed over the past year or so."

"Oh, I know, you must have recruited it, right?"

"Yes, the emperor, since the minister woke up with a high fever, he has slowly grasped the power of the cottage, the big boss is called Wang Daliang, in fact, he is not a bad person, but a hungry farmer who has no choice, because he robbed the rich man's food and was forced to fall into the grass, he is obedient to the minister, let alone other people."

Zhu Youzhen laughed, "I know that people like you are not idle people anywhere. ”

Wang Jinlong smiled, "Your Majesty, you have won the award, and the minister has already made preparations to go out of the mountain to serve the emperor, how can you not develop your strength in advance, so, this year, the minister has been recruiting troops, and this time the messenger who intercepted Jiang Hao and Wang Chengyin was the minister with a group of people, and Wang Daliang with a group of people did it separately." ”

Speaking of intercepting Jiang Hao and Wang Chengyin's letter, Zhu Youzhen suddenly asked: "Aiqing, you intercepted the person they sent to deliver the letter, but what should Jiang Hao and Wang Chengyin's two scum do if they contact Li Zicheng again?" ”

Wang Jinlong smiled, "The emperor doesn't have to worry, they won't want to take refuge in Li Zicheng anymore, hehe!" When the minister intercepted them, he asked the brothers to wear the clothes that were stripped from the officers and soldiers who died in Li Zicheng, under the banner of Li Zicheng, and each group left two live mouths, so that they could go back and report to Jiang Hao and Wang Chengyin, and wash their necks early and wait, the minister estimated that at this time, Jiang Hao and Wang Chengyin were probably actively preparing for war, waiting for a war with Li Zicheng. ”

Zhu Youzhen laughed when he heard it, and tears burst out of his eyes, "Aiqing! Yours is it! ”

Wang Chengen was shocked and had to feel admired, "Brother, how do you people live in the mountains?" For more than a year, the imperial court has indeed not received a report, and there are still bandits like you in Shanxi. ”

Wang Jinlong picked up the wine and smiled at Wang Chengen: "Lao Wang, let me tell you, in the past, there were few people on the mountain and no one paid attention, brother, after I woke up, I never robbed the people, how do you say that the local officials would know that there are still a group of people like us in their jurisdiction?" The brothers lived a very chic life there, and when they lacked meat to eat, they took their brothers over the Great Wall to go to the Mongolian steppe to do a vote, and casually got dozens of hundreds of sheep back, and at most they snatched back nine cows, twenty-two horses, and more than three hundred sheep. There are eight profiteers in Shanxi, who are privately trading with Jianyu and smuggling strategic materials, and I have already sent people to target them, and I will rob them once when I have the opportunity, and I have robbed them seven or eight times in the past year, and I have made more than 100,000 taels of silver from them, otherwise, how can I buy food to feed the brothers, how can I buy materials to make guns and cannons? Let me tell you, there is a profiteer named Fan Yongdou who secretly does business with the tail of a rat, his old lady is almost fifty years old, because the wind can't blow the sun can't shine, saying that it is a, that is to praise her, in short, she is quite young, I sent a few brothers to tie up the old lady, and wrote directly to Fan Yongdou, telling him to send 20,000 taels of silver within three days, otherwise he will sell his wife to a brothel, hey! The next day, the guy sent the silver to the designated place, Lao Wang, did you say that you were looking for the people to rob the people? It's a crime to rob the people, you know? ”

Zhu Youzhen laughed when he heard this, and then asked, "Aiqing, do you still make guns and cannons?" ”

Wang Jinlong smiled and replied: "Of course I will, if I take someone to save General Zhou, how can five or six hundred people fight with Li Zicheng's tens of thousands of people?" It was to bombard them with artillery, of course, this is the credit of General Zhou, earlier, General Zhou's 6,000 men killed Li Zicheng more than 70,000 people, it was the artillery used, Li Zicheng's people heard the cannon, faster than rabbits, but that was also killed by me by thousands. ”

Zhu Youzhen was surprised, "Aiqing, how many cannons do you have?" ”

"Not much, more than a dozen doors."

"A dozen doors can kill thousands of Li Zicheng?"

"Huh! General Zhou used an iron egg cannon, or fired a scattershot, but my one was an explosive cannon, within ten steps of the shell landing point, if you don't die or be injured, who is not afraid? Kill thousands of him, it's a piece of cake! ”